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Gerald Schoenfeld: Lawyer and theatrical impresario who became one of Broadway's most powerful figures

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

As chairman of the Shubert Organisation, Gerald Schoenfeld was one of the most powerful men on Broadway.

Professor C. B. Martin: Philosopher noted for the depth and originality of his thinking

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

With the death of Professor C. B. Martin – universally known as Charlie – philosophy has lost one of its most original, profound and important thinkers. Martin spent the first part of his career in Australia, when it was one of the most creative centres in philosophy, and he was at the centre of that centre. After that he was based in Calgary, working on problems in metaphysics, especially truth and causation, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of science.

Sam Bor: Violinist and founder member of the BBC Symphony who later led the Scottish National Orchestra for 14 years

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

When Adrian Boult held auditions for the BBC's new Symphony Orchestra in 1930, he appointed one very young musician to the first violins. Sam Bor was 18. He came from a family of musicians (his parents were Abraham and Rosie Bor), had studied at the Birmingham School of Music and had been playing in public since his early teens.

William Gibson: Playwright best known for his depiction of Helen Keller, 'The Miracle Worker'

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

The playwright William Gibson wrote two of Broadway's most successful post-war plays, both of which enjoyed runs of nearly two years – Two for the Seesaw, a two-character piece depicting the romance between Jerry Ryan, a straight-laced, married mid-western lawyer and Gittel Mosca, a zany New York bohemian, and his most famous play The Miracle Worker, the powerfully moving depiction of the stormy and occasionally violent relationship between the deaf and blind child Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan, the woman who taught her how to communicate, which introduced Anne Bancroft to Broadway as the resilient and courageous Annie.

Luderin Darbone: Fiddle player and bandleader at the forefront of Cajun music

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

The leader of the Hackberry Ramblers for more than six decades, Luderin Darbone was a fine fiddle player and, more importantly, one of the great innovators in Cajun music.

Rob Partridge: Head of Press at Island Records who made a legend of Bob Marley

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

When Bob Marley performed at the One Love Peace Concert in Kingston, Jamaica, in April 1978, forcing together the hands of the island's leading politicians, popular music finally seemed to bridge social and economic quandaries. The image of Marley flanked by the Prime Minister Michael Manley and the opposition leader Edward Seaga flashed around the world, transmogrifying the Jamaican singer into an iconic figure more akin to Che Guevara than a musician.

Sarah Nayler: Children's book illustrator

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Sarah Nayler was a gifted and prolific illustrator with a deceptively simple style. Her work was enriched by a vitality and humour and caught the imagination of her admirers by encapsulating a devilish sense of fun.

Sir Lewis Robertson: Industrialist and company doctor who turned around the fortunes of ailing British businesses

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

At any significant gathering of the great and the good in Edinburgh or Glasgow, and at many an occasion in London, a huge man, with a large face and spectacles to match would heave into the room, with a supporting crutch. This was Lewis Robertson, company director extraordinary, who, in my opinion, was both good and great. He was an industrialist in his own right, not merely a consultant; he was an extremely effective administrator; but, above all, he excelled as a corporate recovery specialist.

Fr Michele Piccirillo: Priest and expert in Byzantine archaeology

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Michele Piccirillo, the Franciscan father and professor of archaeology, who has lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, was an enthusiastic and dynamic character who took forward the study of early Byzantine archaeology, particularly mosaics, in Jordan, Palestine and Syria. He was an inspiration to all he came into contact with.

Richey Edwards: Guitarist and lyricist with the Manic Street Preachers who disappeared in 1995

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

When Manic Street Preachers' lyricist Richey Edwards disappeared from his room at the Embassy Hotel in London's Bayswater district on the night of 1 February 1995, he set in motion one of rock 'n' roll's most enduring mysteries. He had been due to fly with the band's guitarist and singer James Dean Bradfield to America the following day for promotional duties, and like the Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, who took his own life on the eve of an American tour, he may have felt that the prospect of transatlantic success in some way compromised his artistic principles. But although his passport was found back at his apartment in Cardiff, and his car found abandoned a fortnight later at the Aust motorway services overlooking the River Severn, Edwards himself has never been seen since.

Peter Lehmann: Industrialist who helped privatise British Gas and was later chairman of the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

For over three decades Peter Lehmann, who has died after a short illness, played a significant role in the transformation of British Gas from a public sector behemoth to a successful privatised utility, now known as Centrica. But despite a career at the heart of British industry he was the very antithesis of the "fat cat" his career might have implied.

Daniel Awdry: Conservative MP who helped stem the Liberals' advance in the 1960s

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Daniel Awdry became the Conservative Member for Chippenham in November 1962 and retained the seat for the next 17 years. In taking Chippenham, he did a great service to his party in stemming the Liberal advance after their triumphant victory in the Orpington by-election earlier that year.

Lives Remembered: Gareth Rees

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Professor Gareth Rees, Director for Environmental Health at the Robens Centre for Public Health at the University of Surrey, was an internationally acknowledged environmental scientist and author in the field of microbiology, water quality and public health.

Maurice Stonefrost: GLC's last Director General who outwitted the Tory government

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Maurice Stonefrost was Britain's leading practitioner of local government finance and the last Director General of the Greater London Council. He was a pioneer in seeking to enhance the role and qualifications of accountants, ensuring that their education and training fitted them to act as financial managers and not just technical bookkeepers.

Ibrahim Nasir: First President of the Maldives following independence in the 1960s

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

In the space of a decade, Ibrahim Nasir went from national hero to national embarrassment, a man who helped secure freedom for the Maldives only to be accused of corruption and effectively forced into exile.

Mae Mercer: Blues singer and actress whomade her name in Europe and worked with Clint Eastwood

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

When the deep-voiced blues singer Mae Mercer ran away from her native North Carolina to New York in 1957, the 15-year old wasn't planning on going to Europe. Yet, within three years, she was a regular at the Blues Bar in Paris, and became the first blues artist to appear on French TV in a programme entitled Singing The Blues: Mae Mercer Blues, directed by Jean-Christophe Averty.

Lives Remembered: Beulah Town

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Beulah Town, who died on 17 October aged 76, was a trailblazer for 21st-century women. Born at a time when the feminine life pattern was usually job or profession, marriage, then return to work after children, she bucked the trend. For her, the career enabled her to go her own independent way.

Richard Hickox: Conductor who left a prodigious recorded legacy of British music

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

The sudden death of the conductor Richard Hickox from a heart attack in a Cardiff hotel bedroom puts an abrupt end to a career that was reaping the high-profile rewards of long years of devotion to his craft – in a profession where he might reasonably have expected to enjoy another three decades of music-making.

John Michael Hayes: Screenwriter who graduated from radio and collaborated with Hitchcock on 'Rear Window'

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

For Alfred Hitchcock, actors may have been cattle but writers were a different breed; in collaborating with him, however, they could be sure their haunches would soon bear his initials' impress – and the steam from that operation lingered for years. Raymond Chandler, for one, never ceased complaining after his experience with Strangers on a Train, and John Michael Hayes was understandably irked by Hitchcock's dismissing him, during long conversations with Truffaut, as "a radio writer". Hayes had worked with the director on four films over a two-year period, an intense, congenial and educative process which yielded one masterpiece and added three more curiosities to Hitchcock's bewilderingly uneven output.

Lives Remembered: Bill Putnam

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Bill Putnam, who died on 14 October at the age of 78, studied Classics at University College, London, where his interest in archaeology was fired by Professor Sir Mortimer Wheeler. After National Service as an RAF officer, he went to Newtown Grammar School in Wales as Head of Classics, and embarked on the research into Roman Wales and England which became one of the major themes of his working life. He moved to Weymouth College in 1967 as the first lecturer in archaeology at a higher education college, and soon became Head of History and Archaeology.

Professor John North: Historian of science who made spectacular raids into archaeology, art and literature

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

John North's work illuminated the history of science from its earliest beginnings to the present day. As well as making important contributions to the history of astronomy and cosmology, he used his remarkable powers of scholarship to recover lost worlds of thought in archaeology, literature and art, publishing strikingly original interpretations of Stonehenge, Chaucer and Holbein.

Killer Kowalski: Hard man of American professional wrestling

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

In an era of great American wrestling villains, Killer Kowalski could stand on the podium with his contemporaries George Walker (better known as Gorgeous George) and Dr Jerry Graham.

Paul Breman: Bookseller, writer and publisher of black poetry

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

All booksellers are different, but Paul Breman was more different than most. Who else could combine black poetry and Renaissance fortification? He knew about both, not just as articles of trade; he had read all the texts and understood them, as deeply as their authors. He had very clear ideas on most things, and did not compromise on what he believed was right. With this independence went a dry, even sardonic wit, like old champagne. For those who could meet him on his own ground he was the best of company.

Jack Scott: Old-school weatherman famed for his magnetic symbols

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Jack Scott, who was in the BBC's long line of avuncular yet authoritative weathermen, will always be known as the broadcaster whose magnets could be as unpredictable as the British weather itself. While he was a weatherman in the tradition of old reliables such as Bill Giles, Ian McCaskill and John Kettley, his weather icons sometimes lacked the dependability he exuded himself.

George Jones Jnr: Singer and songwriter who composed the doo-wop classic 'Rama Lama Ding Dong'

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

While doo-wop groups barely made an appearance in the British charts in the 1950s, their material provided rich pickings for cover versions throughout the following decades. The irresistible "Rama Lama Ding Dong", written and sung by George Jones Jnr, lead vocalist of the Edsels, was first recorded in 1957 and became a belated hit in the United States for his group in the spring of 1961. Seventeen years later, Rocky Sharpe and the Replays revived "Rama Lama Ding Dong" and took it into the Top 20 in the UK, Spain, Germany and Austria.